I arrived at the recent grand opening of Roots Up Gallery just as the ribbon was being cut.

Regular readers might have noticed that we rarely cover ribbon cuttings here at City Talk, but I was glad to be on hand for this one.

Store owners Leslie Lovell and Francis Allen were joined by Rudolph Valentino Bostic, who was wielding the scissors. Bostic is one of the several dozen artists whose work the gallery sells.

Perhaps best described as a visionary folk artist, Bostic is a true Savannah gem. His paintings, mostly of Biblical scenes and mostly on cardboard, have attracted the attention of collectors for many years.

Roots Up represents other local artists, too, and carries a wide range of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and other media. Few of the works are realistic, and the atmosphere is decidedly upbeat. There’s also an emphasis on affordability.

The sheer variety means the gallery easily lives up to its official description as carrying works by “folk, visionary, outsider and regional artists.”

There’s a real sense of Savannah at Roots Up, largely thanks to the pieces by Betsy Cain, Panhandle Slim, Meryl Truett, Jeff Ziegler, Harriet Speer and a variety of other local residents.

And there’s a regional sense of place too, fostered by the presence of works by the late great Howard Finster, Peter Loose from Athens and Atlanta’s Ab the Flagman, whose bold sculptural pieces often include images of the U.S. flag.

To some extent, Roots Up is a traditional gallery, with the business and artists splitting proceeds. Other works are on consignment, while many others were purchased outright by Lovell and Allen on recent journeys through the South.

Pieces are hung throughout the bright, high-ceilinged space. Even after two trips to Roots Up, I don’t feel like I’ve come close to absorbing everything that my eyes are seeing.

Many Savannah-based artists have struggled over the years to find local representation. The problem has many causes, but the key issues seem to be the relatively small population of our metro area and the fact we have never become a true destination for collectors such as, say, Charleston.

I don’t know if Roots Up will help change that dynamic, but it’s certainly an impressive new business with local ownership and with a spotlight on local creativity.

Roots Up Gallery is on the parlor floor of 6 E. Liberty St. The Book Lady occupies the space below, and the alteration and design studio Stitch is upstairs.

Satchel, which features custom handbags and a variety of other accessories, will be moving from Broughton Street to the old Home Run Video space right next door.

There are numerous other locally owned businesses clustered near the intersection of Bull and Liberty streets, and it’s easy to imagine the corner becoming an increasingly popular shopping area for both locals and tourists.

If Broughton Street rents increase as many fear and push some small businesses elsewhere, we might see similarly vibrant clusters of locally owned shops throughout Savannah’s historic neighborhoods.

And more about downtown parking

When I made a second visit to Roots Up Gallery on a Wednesday afternoon, there were literally dozens of vacant parking spaces on the streets around Madison and Monterey squares.

We’re in the midst of prime tourist season. SCAD’s spring quarter is still in session. It wasn’t raining.

As I have noted many times in this space, there is often ample on-street parking in parts of the Historic District. That observation contradicts what many readers of this paper seem to believe, but it’s hard to argue with direct experience.

Sure, there is more pressure on parking closer to the river and more pressure when there are major events and when downtown is flooded with tourists on weekends.

But we have ample on-street parking across large swaths of downtown throughout most of the week.

Of course, many of the spaces have two-hour time limits. From the number of vacant spots on a typical weekday, it seems pretty obvious that either those time limits are too short or that the parking is too expensive.

I’ve always been puzzled that retailers in the area haven’t pushed for longer limits on some of the meters. Two hours isn’t really enough time for downtown visitors to have a leisurely lunch and spend some time shopping.

Ironically, the city of Savannah does not enforce meters on weekends, when there is often more demand than on weekdays.